LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Gaetan Gerard COLLARD
Service No: 427847
Born: Melbourne VIC, 10 March 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 October 1942 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 625 Squadron (RAF), RAF Kelstern, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 625 Squadron Lancaster aircraft IM674), Germany, 16 August 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Gerard and Mathe Collard, of Cottesloe, Western Australia
Roll of Honour: St Kilda VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Lancaster IM674 of 625 Squadron took off from RAF Station Kelstern on 16 August 1944 to carry out a bombing attack on Stettin, Germany. Nothing further was heard of the aircraft or crew after take off, and it did not return to base. In a 1948/49 report on investigations carried out in an area surrounding Ueckermunde, it was established that the aircraft was lost on 16 August 1944 presumably as a result of enemy action.
The crew members of IM674 were:
Pilot Officer Dean Gordon Charlick (417050) (Pilot)
Sergeant Charles Cletheroe (611721) (RAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Gaetan Gerard Collard (427847) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Albert Wilson Farrer (417824) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Francis John Geddes (426336) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Warrant Officer Jack Finlay Moore (409004) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Arthur Slade (1896319) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/8/602